Only one person has mattended all 26 previous RYAN Associates’ national conferences and VISIONS recently caught up with him.
RYAN Associates’ President Frank Leone, M.P.H., M.B.A., reflects on national conferences past andfuture.
Q: The curriculum for this year’s national conference covers a broad range of topics. What was your goal when developing the course offerings?
Something for everybody. Registrants tend to represent a range of experience, professional responsibility, program types, and market characteristics. Our challenge is to produce stimulating curriculum relevant to all participants. The curricular subtext is generating return on investment: these are no-nonsense times.
Q: How did you ultimately settle on the curriculum and faculty?
We began by developing, with the assistance of the NAOHP Board, a list of about 30 possible course topics: some tried and true and some new. We then asked NAOHP members to scale each of the options by their degree of interest. The top 12 became our curriculum. Most faculty were personally invited, and about 20 percent were selected from a national call for speakers. This year’s conference is truly a registrant’s conference.
Q: Are you experiencing mixed emotions as you approach the 27th national conference? Twenty-seven years is a long time.
Not really. If this was our last national conference, I might be. But the end is nowhere in sight. Twenty-seven years is a long time. I feel blessed it has lasted so long.
Q: What stands out in your mind when you think of the history of RYAN Associates—in general—and past national conferences in particular?
The people. Wonderful, well-meaning, industrious people from every corner of the country attend. It is really emotional for me to see many of these people year after year.
Q: It is no secret that you enjoy a good party. What do you have on tap for this year’s social events?
Ryan Associates has a history of offering a variety of exciting social events. The energy and camaraderie that develops during our after-hours events carry over to the academic sessions during the day. With regard to this year’s social events, we anticipate having some seats to the Vanderbilt-Georgia football game on Saturday (go Vandy!) and the Titans-49ers game on Sunday. Plus, first-class receptions at the hotel on Sunday and Monday night and our usual grand finale at the ever so Nashville Silver Dollar Saloon on Tuesday.
Q: What are the most significant shortcomings you have observed in occupational health programs around the country? What suggestions do you have for addressing those shortcomings?
The inability to articulate a program’s potential to meet the health needs of other constituencies such as their organization’s senior management and the community at large. So many programs are just meandering along, day after day, acting like just another clinic and moaning about their setbacks instead of energetically moving toward a grand new vision.
Q: If you could do one thing to help secure the future of occupational health as an influential contributor to the health and well-being of American workers, what would it be?
I would reinforce to everyone in the field that the workplace can be the heart and soul of the healthcare delivery system as we progress to a more sensitive, proactive approach. This has been my central message from day one.
Q: You have been a leader in the field since the mid-1980s. What do you hope your legacy will be?
I hope I can inspire a few people along the way, pass on some of what I have learned to others, and help create a new generation of leaders. Most importantly, I hope these new leaders will move things forward and in turn inspire yet another generation to do the same.
